The Moto 360 will support Qi wireless charging

We've yet to see the Moto 360 come across the FCC's testing docket, but its charger? That just scurried across the test bench — with the Moto 360 itself in tow as "Test support equipment." Normally a standard plug-in charger would not find itself under scrutiny from the FCC, after all they're all about things that transmit through the air. Which it would seem this very Qi charger does.

The Motorola SPN5845A Wireless Charger, classified as a Part 15 Low Power Transmitter Below 1705 kHz (operating specifcally at 112-205 kHz) shuffled through the FCC gauntlet last month. Apparently it's named quite simply "Motorola Wireless Charger", though that it's been tested exclusively with the Moto 360 smartwatch and the Motorola Micro-USB AC adapter tells us that this is meant primarily for the Moto 360.

Heck, the basic "regulatory information appears here" sketch shows a device with a circular bottom, which matches nicely with the circular shape of the Moto 360 itself. Motorola's own letter addressing the FCC lists this as a Wireless Power Consortium protocol (you likely know it as Qi wireless charging) device that is "intended for use with the Moto 360 wrist-worn device."

There you have it: The Moto 360 will charge wirelessly. We can't tell you if it will charge in other manner — we're hopeful to at least have a Micro-USB option for when we're traveling and only carrying one cable, but having a dedicated Qi dock for the watch will be something quite nice indeed. Heck, unless it's some weird shape to hold the watch, maybe any Qi charger will work.

Nice. Glad Motorola is sticking with wireless charging unlike Google with their new nexus tablet (rumor I know). Hopefully the band can open up all the way unlike that image above which I think is the type of band that doesn't come apart in the middle otherwise you would have to use some sort of custom Qi charger stand thing.

In theory, all that would actually have to "touch" the back of the watch is the antenna itself. Wireless charging works on the premise that magnetism creates electricity. Run current through a wire, which causes it to emit a magnetic field, and an antenna on the device picks up that field and turns it back into electricity. That means you could have something like a "watch tree" that the watch sits on to charge, with the bulk of the internals for the charger in the base, while the "finger" is just the antenna itself.

I honestly never felt this excited for a smart watch before. But knowing it's from Motorola, I'm very intrigued. Just make sure the charging goes quickly. Most wireless chargers charge slowly than regular ones.

Just take my money! The concept watch pictured above is already gorgeous by smart watch standards. Add in functionality of wireless charging and I'm pretty much pre-sold. I don't own one but the dock/craddle on Samsung watches just seems so tedious. Qi would be a welcome addition.

In my opinion wireless charging is the only aesthetic option for a watch. A cable connector would look awkward or require a very special cable which would make it less compatible than wireless charging.

The thing you're missing is that if it's Qi then the watch could be utilized no different than any other watch. Put the Qi charger on your night stand, you put your watch on the pad when you go to bed. No different than any other watch you'd take off when you go to bed. This is perfect for this device. The catch will be, regardless of what you do with it, will it make it through 1 full day without a charge? In theory it shouldn't be doing half the things your phone is doing, so it should be possible.

Cost? QI doesn't cost much at all. The one I use for my N5 was $20 shipped. And time to charge? I estimate it is about 75% as fast as wired. And when your battery lasts all day, who cares if it takes 2 hours to charge instead of 1.5 hours (especially at night when you are asleep).

I assume a smart watch will only need a small battery because then power they consume is much less than a smartphone (duh) and it is only being used for the simple tasks that smart phones were intended to do! A smart watch would also extend the battery life of your phone as you will be using the watch to complete basic tasks! I love the concept and this watch but I really hope this device loves up to the expectations!

my n4 would always heat way up when it sat on the charger. it would still be warm if it was sitting on there fully charged for hours. maybe things have come a bit further, but as of now i don't care for, nor do i want any device of mine to be wirelessly charged. was my experience with the n4 the norm?

Wireless charging works by emitting a magnetic field from the base, which is converted to electric current by the receiver (your phone). If the wires that serve as an antenna in your phone had some form of defect that caused high electrical resistance, then that could explain excess heat.

Of course, I have no idea how *much* heat exactly we're talking about here. Some heat is expected when charging a battery through any means, but it shouldn't be more than "just barely noticeable".

I'm right there with you. Why buy a new phone when I could have my current phone AND a fancy new smart watch?! Having Google Now on my wrist would basically add my favorite features of my current Moto X to any phone compatible with Android Wear. (I still do kinda want the X+1 anyway though.)

I'm hoping the Qi charging will be supplemented by a crazy solar OLED screen. They used the term "secret sauce" in reference to how the watch will charge, and sauce usually has more than one ingredient. All just speculation on my part, of course.

Don't get your hopes up. A translucent watch solar face is very inefficient and would provide so little power as to be meaningless for a smartwatch. My Casio does OK with it, but I have to leave it in the light regularly- it will not get enough with regular use, and it requires very little power.

The Citizen Eco drive series absorbs light through the face, and that converts to energy that keeps the on board battery charged. I wonder patents aside, why that kind of technology wouldn't work in this instance? Seems like solar energy might be the way to go.

Don't get your hopes up. A translucent watch solar face is very inefficient and would provide so little power as to be meaningless for a smartwatch. My Casio does OK with it, but I have to leave it in the light regularly- it will not get enough with regular use, and it requires very little power. A smartwatch will require probably 50 to 100 times the power.

This! I find keeping my citizen echo drive charged endlessly annoying, as I don't wear it everyday and don't have a regular window to keep it in on a regular basis, as I live in a condo with sliding doors only. I don't like having to do this with the amount of money I spent on the echo drive... it's flat out annoying. I also agree that this smartwatch will use up way too much power for the inclusion of solar charging to be affective. Qi wireless charging should do just fine.

Good point, I think most watch backs are usually stainless steel no? Wonder how this will affect it's feel... Edit: Or maybe the charge coil is used from the front? That'd be awkward tho (a watch that charges face down).

What's the point of Qi charging ?? It works in max 4 cm, so i would need to take them from wrist anyway. Nice would be to charge them when they are on my wrist and I am 50 cm from charger, so they can charge when I am working on computer etc. It looks little bit like Google glass story, which is still not available and loosing meaningful use.

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